The State of Things
"He seems incapable of giving fucks." ~Chingy on King Rochard I The State of Things is the largest incorporated kingdom on the face of Svol Nirin. Currently they hold ten of Svol's largest cities; the population of the state is uncountable, and always growing. The State is ruled by the no-nonsense King Rochard I who has his eye on turning every person on the face of Svol Nirin under his rule. The symbol of the State is a golden pyramid decorated with laurels with a road leading up to it's base; the raven, symbolizing versatility and death to old ways is another common symbol, both it and the pyramid are prominantly featured on State minted coins which is the most easily aquired type of currency on Svol. History One year Rochard Illmayas of Blylock gathered together a small group of people through sheer dogged charisma, promising them each a better life from the one they lead in the miserable town. They set out in wagons, far into the countryside eventually finding a place to start a small town. Rochard became mayor of the village of Illmayas’s Pass, and he worked hard with everyone around him to make the tiny hamlet into a budding town. As a few years came to pass, the little town began to trade with the towns around it, being located in the way of a major artery through the mountains, Rochard began to take small tolls and taxes for moving goods around, building a large amount of wealth, and building relationships with the surrounding area. Rochard then sent a missive to the town on the opposite side of the mountains, Shaft, offering to pay the mayor off if he let Rochard take over. The mayor accepted, and Rochard put himself in place as the High-Administrator of both cities. It was at this point around five years after the founding of Illmayas’s Pass that some of the surrounding kingdoms began to take notice. They let the small towns stay independent before only for the mutual benefit of trade, but they could see Rochard’s determination to turn the cities into a kingdom of his own. Two kings working together contacted Rochard at that time to ask him to cease in his expansion or be crushed and subjugated. Rochard simply didn’t reply, and thus the kings marshaled their knights and prodded at war. Rochard did have access to a small army, his cities totaled about ten thousand people, and they had to be defended from bandits, however his soldiers were ill equipped to go to war with the fighting men of both of the surrounding kingdoms. Rochard however was crafty; he pulled all of his soldiers into Illmayas’s Pass, to defend against one army, leaving the much smaller town of Shaft seemingly undefended. While a battle raged on in one city, the soldiers on the other side of the mountains approached Shaft thinking they had already won, and that’s when the trap was sprung; Rochard had paid a group of bandits called the Polyp Hounds to ride in from the forests and slaughter the enemy knights and footmen. The Hounds, ruthlessly coated the streets of Shaft in blood while on the other side the battle of Illmayas’ Pass began to see a turnaround in Rochard’s favor. At the end of the fight, Rochard had taken over three-hundred prisoners from his side of the fight. The Hounds had slaughtered the other army to the last man. He split his army in half, leaving part in Illmayas’ Pass, and marching the others to one of the invading Kingdom’s, Kalibri. Kalibri was a rather weak kingdom, made up of a castle town that ruled over five small fiefs. Rochard told the king he had won, and that he would slaughter every prisoner he had taken if he did not accept subjugation. The king of Kalibri admitted defeat, and assimilated into what was to become The State of Things. The other similarly sized invading kingdom of Michal gave Rochard slightly more trouble. Rochard had to hire the Polyp Hounds to quietly assassinate the king and all his possible successors so that he could move in during the time of distress. Formation of The State With four cities under his control, High-Administrator Rochard became King Rochard I. He also became very nervous, with more people unwillingly brought under his control, he had to find a way to keep them all as happy as possible. His people had what they needed to survive, but with his violent action, many of the surrounding settlements refused trade with him, and the lack of gold income meant he could not simply flash his coin purse at people in order to get things done. He devised a plan to put his entire country to work forever; an infinite and growing cycle was formed to constantly push the borders of his country out, to form new settlements, and take over new cropland. Within a few years when his boarder would butt up against someone else’s, he would have built up enough of an army to be able to bully them into submitting to the hungry maw of what had come to be known as The State. In the meantime, King Rochard would begin his plan to indoctrinate everyone who did not like him by blasting them with nationalism and State pride. He developed state symbols, including a flag, he built a keep in the mountains between Shaft and Illmayas’s Pass to solidify his unbreakable rule, and lastly he improved the infrastructure between all his towns, building roads, developing a mail delivery system, and stimulating libertarian and intellectual projects like schools and newspapers. Eventually, King Rochard made the militaristic push outwards, and over the course of the next decade took over six other kingdoms of varying sizes. Twenty years after the founding of Illmayas’s Pass, The State of Things is the largest incorporated kingdom that Skaldjr has ever seen, and is still growing. Modern Society Just as the kings of yesterday were the cornerstone of modern society on Svol, The State of Things is currently the definition of modern society. Some of the other kingdoms try to keep up, knowing they will have to face King Rochard eventually, but with history and resources behind him, most don't stand a chance. Gone are the times when a mortal could say he hailed from this kingdom or that, now almost everyone is a proud citizen of the State, the most modern, the most well fed, highest educated, with the biggest military, and the most advanced science on any of the five worlds. Cities *Illmayas's Pass (capitol) *Shaft *Kalibri *Michal *Svol'lock *Brothers *Gavel'lock *Blylock (not fully subjugated)